Automatic bleeder for water and oil separation



Sept. 18, 1951 AUTOMATIC R. A. WERTS 2,568,309

BLEEDER FOR WATER AND OIL SEPARATION Filed Jan. 16, 1948 INVENTOR.

ATTOR/Vf Y5.

Patented Sept. 18, 1951 UNIT so STATES PATENT L Acronyms EEEEDER i oRwA'rER M15011. e1 SEPARATION I Richard A; Werts, Wilmington; cam.

'Kpplication January mi laissserial No. 2645 s claims. ((1210-51) *This invention ielates to'anautornatic water the vertical length of'thecolumn A 3; pliis=the *bl'eeder for oil tanks;scrubbers 'and'='thelike. column or oil within'the='-'tank aboverthedevel An objectof the' 'i'nvention is to provide' an of the connection. plus-anygas pressure-"head '*improved automatic"waterbleedenwhich is more -existing iii' then-top of the tank-*The pressure stable in its 1 operation to maintain -the-= water that was'efiective' on the=underside oi-thedialevel in the-tank er 'simnar rece tacie below a *phragm' l 5 was equal to'theheiglit of the column predetermined level. V of water within the-tank abovethe top of -con- With*the-foregoingand other object in view, "*nectionlfl:'plusthe wight of ithe" column of which will be iriademanifest in the following'de- 'oil-thereover-plus thepressirr'head, if: any, that ta'iled descriptionandspecifically'pointed out in existed in the -top of 'the tank. -'-The=oil being =-the*"appended*claims; reference is hadtothe lighter than *water jwould'; ofcbursef-xert less '"'alcc'ompanying drawings *for an illustrativ'emj'pressure ontopof the"diaphragm'than the combodiment of the invent-ion, wherein: I bined oil-an'dwatr column effective on the under The figure is a-pa rtial 'view of a-tank illus- "side of=the diaphragmHoweverythe' difference "-trating diagrammatically the manner of con-' was" largely'balanced by thmbiasing effect'of the "fnecting theautomatic water bleeder accord- 5 'weight of 'th'e -'va'lve"losure, its-stem l4-, 'and"'the ancew ith'thepresent"invention. -diaphra'gm It, so tha't as th'e'level of water W Referring to 'the"-'-accompanying drawings rese in' the tankthe infeasew pressure reaited wherein similar reference character'S -designate by the inereaseim waiter head=waseffectiv to similanparts throughout," til-indicates fa- 't-ank, e'peii -"tlie' valve 43' -arid 'permit=- water to be' bled "scrubber orsimilaireceptacle within which water from the tank. converselypif the'water' leveliell which has settled-out is'indi'cated at The -'"the 'olecrease in waterhead 'efiective onthe tinder oilc'ontentsfareindicated at O'abovethewater. '=side oi -the"'diaifihragm permitted thesvalve" to The w'aterisbled off "fromthe'tanhthrough a close. "water'outlet pipe I-Pand'theoilis conducted It' has'been' observed hbwevrfithati whn the jfrom the tankthrough an oil outlet'pipe l2. diaphragm "hens lfi is coi ihected to' -th"-tank 'Flow thro'ughthe water outlet'pipe H is con- It through p'ipin ridicatedby *the reference "trolled bya-diaphragm"valvefthe'valve housing characters; A-,- B, Gfinthe eours' of time' the of which is indicated at l3 and which has a water'level in the tank wuld gradually riseuntil suitable valve"closuretherein which may conit appro'ache'cl -th'eoilbutlet l2- sd' 'closel y that form to any conventional or preferred construcwater would sometimes be'carried over witli the tion that is "op'erableby riiean's' of a stem l4 oil throu'ghtheoil 1e Whn t-Iiis' occurred it connected to "a' diaphragmlawimmaniapnra m became necessary -to dism ntle the various conhousing IS. A connection l'l 'onnect's" the dia- -*nctions-fandefiect-- a elean -out after w ch the phragmhousingwith the'water outlet pipe ll "*bleederwouldiunetionproperlyforashort pei iod so that pressure existing within the water outlet of time. -Theraftentli" water-raver wouldagain is effective on the under side of the diaphragm -=gradua11ynse owar" th oil utlet mafia a 15' to" urge thediaphragm valve to open" and "second-clean oermmune eduired. ffpermit'fio'w 'ofwater through the water outlet I"'l' iave fdetrrnined-thafithe cause of-j'such "pipe ll. "The'we'ight 'oftli valve, ts stem 14 6fail'ure dr the bieeqer tb'*d ont'iniito funf'ction "and"'the"diaphragm l5' biases or urges'th'e" valve "properlyusdue to the fact 'tha't'theoil 0 within to close and pressure is conducted to the diathe tank contains considerable amounts of disphragm housing It to be efiective on the upper solved gas and that when the oil in the conside of the diaphragm to urge the valve to close. nections CBA is thus isolated, in the course Heretofore customary practice has been to conof time, this isolated oil in the piping becomes nect a vertical pipe from the top of the diacontinually more dense due to the fact that its phragm housing l6 at or about the location of dissolved gas slowly escapes therefrom and rethe reference character A and run this pipe upenters the tank and passes out with the oil issuing wardly to a location vertically thereabove in the from the oil outlet pipe I2. The increase in neighborhood of the reference character B. {,0 density in the oil in the vertical column B--A Then to connect this vertical length of pipe into is efiective to increase the pressure on the top the tank wall at or about the location of of the diaphragm [5 so that with the passage the reference character 0'. This connection of time as the oil in this column gives up its CBA, on being filled with oil, would conduct entrained gas and becomes more and more dense, pressure to the top of the diaphragm l5 equal to the pressure that is effective on the diaphragm urging the valve to close increases and the water level within the tank consequently rises.

In order to overcome this objection I connect the top of the diaphragm housing I6 with a horizontal pipe I8 to the oil outlet pipe I2 in such a manner that the connection with the oil outlet pipe I2 indicated at I9 is substantially or approximately horizontally level with the top of the diaphragm housing I6 and by making a connection in this manner I find that the level of the water W within the tank remains substantially constant. This may be explained substantially as follows: Inasmuch as the oil outlet I2 may be regarded as continually or almost continually conducting oil off from the tank, that oil which is within the outlet pipe and particularly in the column between I9 and 20 will have the same density as the oil within the tank. In other Words, if the oil within the tank due to its dissolved or entrained gas is quite light, the oil in the outlet pipe I2 between I9 and 20 will have 7' substantially the same density. That oil which is within the horizontal pipe I8 is, of course, largely isolated and in the course of time this oil may become quite dense by having given up its entrained or dissolved gas. This pipe being horizontal, the increase in density of the oil therein will have little or no effect on the pressure exerted on top of the diaphragm I5. On the contrary this dead oil merely functions as a pressure transmitter betweeen the point I9 and the top of the diaphragm housing. Consequently, as the pressure applied to the top of the diaphragm I is always equal to the pressure existing at I9 and the pressure at this point is equal to a column of oil above the point I9 to the top of the oil level in the tank measured in terms of that density of oil that exists within the tank, the operation of the improved automatic water bleeder will remain constant to maintain the water level within the tank constant or substantially so.

It is not essential that all portions of the pipe I8 remain constant. Thus, this pipe between the top of the diaphragm housing and the connection I9 may have a dip or a pigtail therein or may even have a siphon therein. As long as the connection with the oil outlet I2 is approximately level with the top of the diaphragm housing, any increase in the density of oil in the connection between l9 and the diaphragm housing will have no apparent efiect on the top of the diaphragm I5.

It will thus be appreciated that by properly connecting the diaphragm housing of the diaphragm valve with the oil outlet I2, as above described, any increase in density in the oil that is isolated in the conduit leading to the diaphragm housing is rendered non-effective on the diaphragm. The improved water bleeder is so designed that if desirable it may be pre-loaded with a desirable liquid of desired density in the 6 pipe I8 and the top of the diaphragm housing.

Various changes may be made in the details of construction without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination with a tank adapted to con tain oil and separated water having a water outlet and an oil outlet, and a diaphragm valve controlling the water outlet, means for connecting the water and oil outlets respectively to the diaphragm valve so that Water outlet pressure is effective to urge the valve to open and oil outlet pressure is effective to urge the valve to close, the connecting means between the oil outlet and the valve being characterized by bein connected to the oil outlet at approximately the same horizontal level as that of the diaphragm valv so that if there is an opportunity for dead oil to collect therein, the dead oil does not have the increase in its density effective on the diaphragm.

2. In connection with a tank adapted to contain oil and separated water having a water outlet and an oil outlet and a diaphragm valve controlling the water outlet, means connecting the water outlet to the diaphragm valve so that pressure in the water outlet is effective on the valve to urge it to open, and means connecting the valve to the oil outlet at a point approximately level with the diaphragm valve whereby pressure in the oil outlet is efiective to urge the valve to close and even though the density of oil in the connecting means may increase, its increase will not be effective on the diaphragm of the valve.

3. In combination, a tank adapted to contain oil and separated water, a water outlet leading from the tank, an oil outlet leading from the tank, a valve controlling the water outlet, pressure-responsive means subjected to pressure in the water outlet urging the valve to open, said pressure-responsive means being connected by a conduit to the oil outlet so as to be subjected to pressure in the oil outlet urging the valve to close, the conduit connecting the pressure-responsive means with the oil outlet being disposed approximately level with the pressure-responsive means whereby any increase in density in the oil between the oil outlet and the pressure-responsive means will not be efiective to urge the valve to close to any materially increased extent.

RICHARD A. WERTS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 548,458 Reynolds Oct. 22, 1895 1,071,784 Nutter Sept. 2, 1913 1,750,489 Pippin Mar. 11, 1939 2,338,986 Waterman Jan. 11, 1944 

